Natural Foliage or Autumn Foliage ware as it was later called, was a uniquely Doulton process whereby actual leaves were pressed into the wet clay and which were of course obliterated during the firing process, leaving the delicate outlines of the individual leaves behind.
These were then hand decorated usually in shades of blue although some with blue decoration also exist. Naturally no two examples are the same.
This Lambeth ware proved very popular and examples regularly turn up at auction and in antiques centres. It was introduced in 1883 and remained in production to some extent until the 1950’s with two gaps co-incising with the two world wars in the 20th Century.